60s on 6 dropping Dave the Rave

[guy incognito]

"Dave the Rave's Relics and Rarities" is being dropped from the 60s schedule at the end of the month. Complaints about sound quality are being cited as the main reason for the move (Dave's show utilized many rare, old recordings that are only available on vinyl or acetate).

Frankly, I think this is an absolutely lousy move, and I've already sent polite but candid emails to Lee Abrams and Cleveland Wheeler expressing my displeasure at the move and urging them to reconsider. Those of you who are fans of Dave's show might wish to do the same.

[jimboxlax]

Guy, i completely agree with you - Dave's show was one of the best shows on XM and its a shame that they took it off... I will probably drop 2 of my 3 subscriptions due to this blunder on their part..

Do you happen to know the e-mail addresses for Cleveland Wheeler and Lee Abrams? Based on other peoples addresses at XM it would be firstname dot lastname at xmradio.com, but I'm not 100% sure, and i want to post their e-mails on the www.davetherave.com website..

I have sent e-mails to the sixties@xmradio.com mailbox, and i received an early reply from Phlash, telling me that Dave's show was cancelled, but there was no reply to my followup letter pleading not to cancel the show..

[CTGuy]

Absolutely ridiculous! Why not dump most of 40s on 4's library, or all the historic recordings in the Bluesville library? Those recordings sound "worse" than anything Dave plays. "Complaints about sound quality"? Well, duhhh ... when you play rare music from 40 or so years ago, available only on vinyl or acetate, you're not going to get 21st century digital "CD quality" (cough-cough-big XM marketing department lie-cough-cough) sound.

We're talking about a one-hour historical specialty show here. If some audiophiles have a problem with the sound quality of these rare, crude rock 'n' roll recordings for this one hour of the week, please explain to them what the MUSIC on this program is all about. Don't give in to them and cancel the program just to run another hour of autopilot weekend same-old-same-old.

Does anyone at XM have any idea what kind of reaction their explanations of programming decisions bring forth? First the "low ratings" explanation for Special X, now this. No corporation ever tells the public the whole truth behind its decisions anyway, so why doesn't XM tell us a more palatable story -- "We're trying to reach profitability and Dave's show doesn't fit our budget," for example. Come on, Lee Abrams, get the geniuses in marketing who came up with the "CD quality" hype to work on this, pronto!

[joybandit]

I am also disappointed that Dave is being cancelled. I enjoyed listening to his show.

Back in the 60s, all music sounded that way. AM radio was not quality listening and even the 45s I purchased sounded grainy.

What gives XM?

[drk]

I find the reason of "sound quality" a cop-out. It just doesn't make sense.

I'm sure there are other reasons. As much as some might consider XM "avant garde", it is a business and I'll bet the move was purely a business decision.

Regards,

dk

[guy incognito]

[jimboxlax]

Thanx Guy,

Through the grapevine, I found that Cleveland Wheeler doesn't seem to be the enemy - he actually is a show supporter..The decision to kill Dave's show was made above him by the suits who believe that the technology is more important than the music itself...

i dont know who those suits are yet, but I'll try and find out who... If anyone knows, please let us know...

[Scott Greczkowski]

The suits are killing XM Radio.

They are making a bunch of stupid decissions lately.

The stupid Suits are the reason I just purchased a Sirius Radio. The suits will be the reason why I cancel my XM Radio subscriptions (I have 5 radios)

[CTGuy]

I hope the Great Homogenization of XM hasn't begun. Dropping a unique program like Dave's for purely technical reasons reeks of the same sort of thinking that's eliminated most black-and-white classic programs from television and '50s oldies from terrestrial radio: "These aren't state-of-the-art. Our desired upscale, young audience won't stand for anything but state-of-the-art audio and video."

There's a big problem with extending this kind of thinking to XM. Demographics like "young" and "upscale" are important to entities that sell advertising. XM decided to forego advertising on its music channels, so why should it care if the historical programming on some of them might not be up to 2004 audio standards? Does this mean Forties on 4 is endangered? How about "Harlem" and "Rockabilly Road Show" on Fifties on 5? How about the Hank Williams Sr. songs that give Hank's Place its name and image? In the future, will we be getting deep playlists, but only of music recorded in the digital era?

I hope XM isn't going to put rock 'n' roll's fascinating early history back in the attic, where terrestrial radio has locked it for years. With a paying customer base, there's no reason for it to do so, unless the growth projections XM is feeding its investors are so high (a target of 30-50 million by 2006, for example) that the suits figure homogenization and broader appeal are necessary to attract more musically unadventurous subscribers -- the tens of millions of people who like terrestrial radio's music but not its commercials. (I work with an office full of them, so I know they exist. I tell them about XM's deep playlists and it's "So what; I love that 50 Cent song and KC101 (local Clear Channel Top 40 outlet) plays it a lot. I don't need all that other s***." This attitude is especially prevalent among the 20-30 age group.)

It's a shame that the suits can't see the value of historical programming like Dave the Rave. Again, XM, if you're listening .... YOU DON'T HAVE CD QUALITY AUDIO. Stop peddling that big lie and pay attention to making your programming as complete and diverse as you can.

[guy incognito]

[CTGuy]

Guy Incognito wrote:

[guy incognito]

I guess my point is that I don't see XM or Sirius getting 20 million subs anytime soon, no matter how much they dumb down their programming. Your average Joe Sixpack and Jane Soccermom don't strike me as being dissatisfied enough with AM/FM to plunk down $10 or more per month just to be commercial-free.

[jimboxlax]

It took some digging, but I found out that the suit directly responsible for Dave's cancellation was a guy named Steve Harris.. (his e-mail is Steve.Harris@xmradio.com and you can see a picture and bio of him at http://xmradio.com/corporate_info/management_main.jsp

[jimboxlax]

JUst heard Dave's last show and I'm really gonna miss it...

[gman55]

Cancelling Dave the Rave is truly upsetting..As mentioned in previous posts, Cleveland seems to be a Dave fan too, He's just having a problem convincing someone else higher up...It's really sad to see such a great show go down the tubes. I'll have to agree with some other posts that the Demento show can go in the can today and it wouldn't bother me a bit. Dave's show is much more creative, intelligent and entertaining. I don't know what XM is thinking, but they should feel blessed that Dave would share his vault of precious gems with them, not to mention his vast knowledge of the music - I'll bet they couldn't locate a tenth of the records that Dave has if they wanted to play them. As far as I'm concerned, XM should give Dave his own "Relics" channel 24/7/365. (Don't hold your breath on that one!) Right now my only advice to Dave fans is...If you haven't sent an email to XM protesting Dave's cancellation, then do so NOW...and if you have sent an email, send out another one as a follow-up and ask for an explanation as to whose decision this really is...If we can get that person's attention, then we'll have a better chance to plead our case. ( I have been informed that the guys we need to email are Steve Harris & Lee Abrams at XM Steve.Harris@xmradio.com & Lee.Abrams@xmradio.com )To all Dave fans--DON'T GIVE UP! Keep emailing XM and let's go down fighting! Remind them that we PAY for their service every month and we should have a voice in what we are PAYING for! And remember to BE NICE! If Dave ever should go to Sirius, I'll go with him! (Reluctantly)
gman55